Uni] AND SYMBOLS. 369 



the sea- water as a mineral water, containing chloride of sodium 

 (sea- salt), sulphate of magnesia, chloride of magnesium, carbonic 

 acid, carbonate of lime and of magnesia, sulphate of lime, besides 

 some traces of potassa, iodine, bromine, and oxide of iron. 

 These analyses take no account of the mucus, the gelatinous 

 matter belonging or having belonged to the innumerable beings 

 which the sea-water nourishes, and which, in effect, convert the 

 water into an organic medium. Take some river-water at its 

 well-head, filter it, and pour it into a vessel ; you can preserve 

 it for a long time wholesome and drinkable, and only after a 

 considerable interval does it stagnate. But sea-water, as soon as 

 it is separated from the great body of the ocean, and enclosed 

 in a bottle or a cask, dies grows corrupt and noisome. It 

 can neither be transported to any place nor preserved. And 

 yet it is not its salts assuredly which corrupt it ; no, it is the 

 mucus ; it is the myriads of invisible animalcules which 

 immediately perish and putrefy. Thus the sea is a strengthen- 

 ing tonic, and salutary only for the bathers who plunge into its 

 waves. MY. 



Unexpected Utility. 



We may find useful qualities where we could hardly have 

 expected their existence. Few persons would consider mud to be 

 a cleansing agent. Yet in spite of its adhesiveness, its colour, and 

 its odour, it has the advantage of being so. It acts as a kind 

 of marine soap, and does really cleanse the hands thoroughly, 

 a property which is very useful when one is out for a cruise 

 and the supply of fresh water on board runs short. No doubt 

 there are hundreds of other substances as unpromising in appear- 

 ance as mud, which have unexpected uses to which they could 

 be put if we could only find them out. c. s. 



Unimportant Acts may Acquire Illimitable 

 Significance. 



In the new Red Sandstone of the Valley of the Connecticut 

 River, the red flags of thin-bedded sandstone are often ripple- 

 marked, and exhibit on their under-sides casts of cracks formed 

 in the underlying red and green shales. These last must have 



2 A 



